Blogs from Laos, Asia - page 519

Getting Here We hadn't heard good things about the road to Vientiane, in the guidebook it advises you fly as it's safer! And we were about to find out why ... When we got on the bus we found some people we knew - the scottish vet, Frazer, we met a couple of days ago, plus Julie who we met on the slow boat, so chatting with them helped to pass the time. Shortly after getting on the bus we noticed the armed guard, we had been warned by Frazer, but it's still a bit of a shock. I think Becca had expected him to be in full camo gear with facepaint and the works, but in fact he was in jeans and a hoodie (a hoodie in this heat - he must be mad). The ... read more

in search of elephants As we treat the lonely planet guide books as our travelling bible, we followed its advice to a place that was highlighted on the Laos guide as a bullet on the map in north Laos. it is a good place to see some elephants working in a place called Hongsa. we didn't at all suspect anything bad although it was not mentioned in our South-Asia Lonely-Planet or in the Laos guides from "rough-guide" and "footprint". at the end going to Hongsa was like choosing randomly a point on the map and going there... it took us 10 hr of painful slow boat riding just to get to nowhere - a place we were told we can find a ride to Hongsa. a little hungry but very optimistic about the elephants we ... read more

Its always great to get to know the locals, and sometimes it can make life really interesting... After another long bus ride from Vang Vieng the traveling trio (myself, Taylor and Shane) arrived in Vientiane. After walking around for about an hour looking for a place to stay, we accepted a ride from a man who was gathering people and sending them to his guest house down the road. After checking the place out we decided that it would work and crashed at the latest "home." We arrived on a Saturday night, and decided to take it easy, especially after all the relaxing we did in Vang Viene. The staff of the guest house were very nice and they had a TV that we crashed out in front of after dinner. Another hard, long day of ... read more

When I left Vang Vieng I couldn't believe that I had stayed there 8 nights... I found a really wonderful guesthouse and just forgot all about time! Vang Vieng is a really beautiful area in Laos along the Nam Song river that has all kinds of adventure activities for tourists, but unfortunately it has also become such a tourist mecca that the town itself is not that interesting. Sadly it is full of tv bars showing the Simpsons and Friends - I just can't understand why so many people come away travelling only to spend their days watching crappy tv they would never watch back home... So after a couple of nights of staying near the centre of town I moved to a really quiet guesthouse across the river and away from all the action. The ... read more

After an amazing stay at Don Det, we headed back up towards Pakse with the intention of crossing into Thailand again in order to drop down into Cambodia and Siem Riep. On the way mind you is Chamapasak, a one street village that was once an ancient Khmer centre leaving today an ancient temple perched on a hill top. To reach Champasak, you take a ferry (read, three boats now tied together and a wooden platform attached to accomodate the transportation of people, livestock and buses) across the Mekong. On board are some of the hardest selling kids we've met yet who are waiting to pout, plead and stomp their foot at you in order for you to buy chewing gum, cigarettes or water, meanwhile mum is selling freshly rolled (right in front of your eyes) ... read more